Post Beer Considerations
by Ethell
Summary: In which Rodney panics, and Jennifer accepts the unexpected. A look into Rodney and Jennifer's thoughts after their drink. Tag to Trio.


Disclaimer: Atlantis isn't mine.

Warning: Contains spoilers for Trio

A/N: This is a little fic in reaction to dwparsnip comment on GW that we didn't have enough McKeller fics in here compared to the Ronon/Keller ones. So there you go, I wrote a short one, based on an idea I had a while but never did anything about it. It's nothing serious, and not all that good because I did it in a day (for me, this is fast) and revised it only once, but… yeah. I thought I'd post it anyway.

* * *

If there was one thing Rodney McKay didn't like, it was being clueless. He liked to grasp concepts, to understand situations, to have a complete comprehension of theories.

That explained why, after a perfectly nice evening with the very charming Jennifer Keller, he could be found pacing irritably in his room instead of daydreaming about her beautiful hair like every other normal man would.

Because you see, Rodney McKay felt confused at the moment. _Very_ confused.

It had already been stated many, many times that he was not good with women. At all. He was perfectly useless in the flirting department, was absolutely unable to understand subtexts to save his life, and generally had no idea what to say to beautiful specimens of the opposite sex.

Now, this was in general not a very important problem in Rodney's mind, because beautiful women did not usually talk to him, anyway. Tonight, though, it had unexpectedly come to hit him in the face.

He had no idea what possessed her to invite him to a beer. Why, indeed, would a brilliant, beautiful, kind, caring, funny young woman want to spend more time with him than absolutely necessary? Sure, they did hang out together sometimes, but the rest of the team was always there with them! Oh, and they _had_ been alone together once or twice, but that was in the infirmary. Hardly a place for a romantic date.

But wait, what was he saying? The beer, it hadn't been a date… It had just been a friendly get-together between two friends… right?

Sighing, McKay collapsed on his bed. He felt completely exhausted. Sure, the day in itself had been incredibly trying, and every single inch of his body hurt. But the_ night_… That… That had truly done him in.

It wasn't that it hadn't been pleasant, of course not… He was sure that were he anyone else than himself, he'd find her charming and entertaining. And yes, maybe, _maybe_, he had found it easier to talk to her than most women he'd ever met – Katie included. But this certainly did not mean he hadn't felt nervous the whole time they'd been together.

And especially so towards the end of the night.

He'd had no idea how to part with her. Was he supposed to take her back to her quarters? Did she expect a kiss on the cheek, a handshake, a simple 'Goodnight'? By the time they'd reached the intersection that separated the path to their respective rooms, he still hadn't decided what to do, so he slowed down and finally stopped, feeling nothing more than plain awkward.

His indecision and panic must been obvious to her because she looked at him, smiling, with a sparkle in her eyes.

"Rodney?" she asked inquiringly.

He gestured to the intersection.

"Well, this is here that we… I mean, I guess I could… If… If you want me to, of course, because I, um, wouldn't want to force you to… Um, and… I also wanted to say that, um… it's… it's been lovely, really, and _you've_ been, um…"

She seemed to take pity on him at this point, because she took a few steps towards him, leaned up and softly kissed his cheek.

"Good night, Rodney," she whispered, and before he could say anything she started walking down the corridor leading to her room, leaving him staring after her like a total idiot.

Which is what he was, he guessed.

Because really, who in the entire male population couldn't recognize a date from a meeting between friends?_ Who?_

The answer was simple: no one except him.

Groaning, he let his head drop in his hands. For a wild moment, he considered going to ask Sheppard's advice on the matter. He sighed again. There was no way in hell he would ever do that. He could already hear the man's comments:

"Oh oh! Look at that! The genius needs advice! Well, that's a first!"

"Are you crazy, Rodney? Keller? On a date with you?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you, Rodney. You see, _I _went on a date with Keller last night. And let me tell you, it was hard to mistake that for a meeting between friends, if you know what I mean!"

Really. No way in _hell_.

* * *

Jennifer was lying in bed, but she knew it was hopeless to think she'd fall asleep anytime soon. She was restless, and it was no great mystery why.

She sighed and turned over once more.

It had been a hard day. The mining incident, of course, had been horrifying, but that wasn't really wasn't the reason why sleep was eluding her. The reason was what had happened _afterwards_.

She didn't really remember when she'd started liking – no, not even liking, being able to tolerate - the one and only Rodney McKay. He had never really been nice to her before she became CMO, mostly because he had never paid her much attention. And then, afterwards… Well, she'd had to spend more time with Sheppard's team because of her position, in briefings or while dealing with their frequent injuries, so she'd talked to him, of course, but she had to admit that at first, she didn't like the man. He was a lot to take, really: arrogant, sarcastic, exigent and intolerant, he wasn't one of those people everybody loved at first sight.

But then, as she got to know him, she started seeing the other side of Rodney McKay, the one hidden to so many. And she had to admit, that side of him was really nice. She realized how funny he was, how brave, even how kind, in his own special way, and she knew now that he deeply cared about those he loved.

So she opened up to this McKay, and was glad to be considered one of his friends.

But now the minor detail of getting her life saved by him had seemed to completely change her feelings towards him.

She wasn't sure what it was that she felt, exactly. She'd flirted with him a bit before the mining incident, but she did it without serious intent, and it went widely unnoticed by McKay anyway. Now, however, as they sat next to each other in the infirmary, she felt truly attracted to him for the first time.

She watched him talk, and noticed how blue his eyes were. She listened to him, and everything he said seemed funny and witty. She looked at his hands, and her heart filled with emotion at the thought that he had endured that for her sake.

Before she could stop herself, she'd asked him out for a beer.

On the way to the mess hall, she'd wondered if she'd suddenly gone crazy. Everything about him seemed new to her. She'd never realized he smelled that good, or that his voice was this nice, or that his lips looked so…

It was at that point that she realized she had, indeed, gone crazy. Rodney McKay was no longer just a friend to her.

She knew she should have been horrified by the sole thought of that, as any other woman in Atlantis would have, but she really couldn't find it in her. He had saved her life, and now she saw him as the wonderful man he was.

She smiled in recollection, shaking her head. He had looked so panicked, just before they parted. It almost alarmed her how cute she thought he looked when he was clueless.

She'd kissed him on the cheek, and she felt her heartbeat quicken as her lips touched his skin. After that, she walked away quickly in case the urge to do something more drastic than a simple kiss on the cheek got too strong to resist.

Well, try as she might, she really couldn't stop those feelings anymore.

She was definitely going to ask Rodney out for a beer again.


End file.
